Tim Patrick is crushing his audition for free agency.
Patrick continued his superb season Sunday at AT&T Stadium, leading the Broncos with 85 receiving yards on four catches in Denver’s 30-16 rout of Dallas. His performance included a 44-yard touchdown catch as well as three first-down catches on third-and-long. Patrick continues to be Mr. Reliable.
“This game, receiver-wise, it wasn’t us worrying about their defense — it was about us outplaying their receivers,” Patrick said. “We knew if we outplayed their receivers, we had a really good chance of winning the game. And I feel like that’s what we did today.”
In the rout that saw Denver go up 30-0 in the fourth quarter before Dallas closed the gap with a couple of late TDs, Patrick’s touchdown catch on a stutter-and-go route early in the second put the Broncos in control 13-0. One play after an 11-yard grab on 3-and-10 set Denver up in Dallas territory, Patrick burned NFL interception leader Trevon Diggs on the route. He finished off the highlight play with a diving grab at the goal line.
“We know (Diggs) is an aggressive guy,” Patrick said. “The route wasn’t the best, but I just wanted him to stop his feet, and he did exactly what I wanted to do. Once the ball was in the air, I knew I had to make a play on it.”
Coach Vic Fangio called Teddy Bridgewater’s pass to Patrick tremendous.
“We’ve been looking to (go vertical on hitch-and-go), we did it, and (offensive coordinator) Pat (Shurmur) picked the right time to call it,” Fangio said. “Teddy made a great throw, Tim made a great catch.”
Patrick added two receptions in 3rd-and-8 situations to move the sticks on possessions that eventually resulted in Brandon McManus field goals. After his score in the second quarter, Patrick had a 19-yard catch against rookie linebacker Micah Parsons and had another first-down catch in the third quarter in coverage against cornerback Jourdan Lewis.
The 27-year-old’s play was complemented by Jerry Jeudy (tied his season-high with six catches for 69 yards), tight end Albert Okwuegbunam (four catches for 25), Kendall Hinton (one catch for 40, that came on 3rd-&-14) and Courtland Sutton (one for nine, plus a two-point conversion catch and drew a pass interference call against Diggs).
“I love dominating and making plays and that’s what (us wideouts) did, and everybody fed off it,” Patrick said. “(Critics) were saying we haven’t beat a team over .500 — well, they had one loss and we just beat them.”
Patrick is playing on a $3.38 million salary this year and will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
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